Matchday Thread Inverness CT -V- Aberdeen

[RiG]

Massively disappointed with that. I don't think there is much between us and Aberdeen to be honest and I felt that showed again today much like the earlier game at Pittodrie. Sadly, just like that earlier game at Pittodrie, we decided to help Aberdeen out and set up a goal for them. No idea what Tremarco was thinking. He had no chance getting to that ball which Meekings was going to clear. Good play from Aberdeen to quickly take advantage of the error and a great finish from Pawlett.

 

The goal aside I wasn't overly impressed with Aberdeen in an attacking sense. I didn't feel they created much and I felt we created significantly more chances to grab goals than they did but, crucially, we never looked like scoring most of our chances which is somewhat important in this game. Mckay crashing the ball off the bar and Brown with what looked like an excellent save from Tansey were perhaps the best chances for us. 

 

I thought Tremarco was lucky not to be sent off for a wild lunge on Pawlett (I think) in the first half. Plenty of shouts for a handball against Warren but from my view I didn't think it was deliberate although that was from the other end of the pitch so that opinion may change on viewing the highlights.

 

As I said, I didn't think much of Aberdeen in an attacking sense but defensively they were pretty sound. Murray at right back had a good game and Considine kept Watkins relatively quiet. Jack was superb in CM for the opening 20 minutes as Aberdeen dominated the midfield whilst we struggled to get going.

 

Some really poor performances from key players. Shinnie and Doran need to do better than they did today. I think we would have been better with Shinnie at LB and then Williams in CM alongside Tansey. Very strange for Hughes to wait so long to make changes and when he did I was very puzzled when he did. 

 

As Yngwie has posted elsewhere in the last five years, over the festive period, we have won just twice in 19 games. No idea what happens but we seem to fall apart over Christmas and New Year. We need to right this quickly and we have two very winnable games coming up (in theory!) against Ross County and Saint Mirren. Fail to up our performance in either of these matches and I can see Saint Johnstone overhauling us in the very near future.

Edited December 28, 2014 by RiG

[Caley Mad In Berks]

Very disappointing.  Did Brill have any saves to make?  Their keeper, on the other hand, saved them a number of times.  Created enough chances to win the game comfortably.

 

I agree with those who say we left our subs until too late in the game.  Doran offered nothing and should have been off shortly after half time.  Watkins too never got into the game.

 

December has been our undoing again.  Lets hope we can pick up our winning ways again next Thursday.

[tm4tj]

Erm, he had one to make, but they scored. Agree entirely with RIG. Big players having a mare, step forward Doran, Watkins, Shinnie, Mckay, Brill (kicking was shite, and that's all he had to do).

 

All in, we never did enough to win, but neither did Aberdeen. Doran missed the snitch of the game, almost fresh airing from a tremendous position ten yards from goal, shocking miss and worthy of being executed. We must be more lethal in front of goal or we are about to plummet.

 

Regards

 

Disgruntled.

[The Long Man]

Agree with much that has been said. Had Shinnie being playing left back, then there is every likelihood that goal wouldn't have been created. He still would have had opportunities to go forward if we have a midfielder who drops back to cover for him when he does so. I can see why Hughes wants to employ his ability more centrally, but it also unbalances the team. Many of the players didn't look that comfortable to me with their positions or where they were supposed to be - Ryan Christie looked lost at times, although you can forgive him his lack of experience, but he is too overhyped imho, which doesn't do him any favours - let him develop, but don't ask too much of him in a physical game like this. 

Watkins was disappointing, given his ability, but you have to say that Aberdeen were extremely well organised, committed and didn't let silly errors give chances away, like we did. That was the difference between the two teams for me, not individual abilities. 

As everybody says, why on earth did Hughes not change it around halfway through the second half, when you could see it wasn't working. Giving Sekajja a few minutes at the end is utterly pointless - we had a strong bench, and a match crying out for some strategic substitutions and change of tactics. All the time you felt we could get at least a draw with a little imagination and fresh legs.

[tm4tj]

Had we played Watkins, Doran and Mckay from the start we might have had a chance.

 

The problem is, it's not just one result, that's three in a row and County away to come.............

 

On the other hand, he never threw Nick Ross on to save us.

[givmeaccccc]

Very disappointed. We seem to have abandoned our passing game in favour of the big lump for the first 30 minutes. We were outclassed in mid field. Doran very poor and should have been hooked after an hour. Also we need to get street wise, Aberdeen players go to ground at every opportunity, you just need to look at them and down they go.

Flog Shinnie in January and buy a big strapping striker to help out Billy and rough up defences.

[tm4tj]

Strangely enough, if you visit P&b, Dons fans are pleased with the point but seem to think that they were fortunate............... strange lot.

[caley100]

^{Aye, three games no goals, no points, feckin sad reading.}

^{Tremarco should never have started -  talk about lack of match fitness-the guy was way off the pace.}

^{Shinnie in centre midfield was a joke, why not play him at his best position and put Vincent where he is best - feckin madness from Hughes.}

^{And why put Sekaja on with minutes to go????}

Edited December 28, 2014 by caley100

[old caley girl]

Personally didn't see much between the team's except us losing a bad goal?

[caley100]

The fact we didn't score not ring a bell?

[old caley girl]

The fact we didn't score not ring a bell?

Obviously that would have been better!

[Sneckboy]

"we need to get more streetwise"! What does that mean? Trying to fool refs? Haven't we just spent all week berating the St Johnstone striker for doing just such!!!

[Guest Shaun]

"we need to get more streetwise"! What does that mean? Trying to fool refs? Haven't we just spent all week berating the St Johnstone striker for doing just such!!!

That is true lad. I would be ashamed if any of our players did a Brian Graham.

Apart from goal and one bad miss from Hayes (hit fresh air when any touch and it was 0-2), Aberdeen didn't look like scoring.

Was surprised Vincent didn't come on at all.

[tm4tj]

If you watched on TV, how did Dorans sitter come across??

[alternative maryhill]

A lot of criticism on here, but from my seat in the Stadio de la O'Neill's in Glasgow I thought that, from about 20 minutes in, we were a lot better than against Dundee, Partick or (from what I heard) St Johnstone, and with better luck and decision-making should have had all three points.

 

Dreadful lack of positional sense from Tremarco for the goal, obviously, and for the first part of the first half we didn't seem able to bring Watkins or Doran into play at all, but as soon as Tansey, Christie and Doran started pressing the ball better we started dominating possession and created better chances than we have done for several weeks. Can't really blame either Watkins or Mckay for being a little selfish in front of goal when both are presumably desperate to put an end to barren runs, but we could certainly have done better had either shown more composure.

 

It's a depressing result and run, but having sat through that horrendous capitulation against Partick two weeks ago, I'm quite encouraged that we were today, for an hour at least, the better team against a side that is by any measurable statistic one of the best in Scotland currently. Would stick with more or less the same line-up against County, but we do need to take that more aggressive, pressing approach that we showed from 20 minutes in today, rather than letting them dictate play as they did in the first half of the previous fixture.           

[Kingsmills]

There was an Aberdeen fan behind me in the Main Stand. When He leapt up and cheered when they scored, I nearly lost the rag. Talk about adding insult to injury.

The Dons sold their entire allocation and contributed over £60,000 to our coffers. Personally, since we were a long way from selling out, I have no difficulty with a few relatively well behaved Aberdeen fans contributing a few more quid

[tm4tj]

"Can't really blame either Watkins or Mckay for being a little selfish in front of goal when both are presumably desperate to put an end to barren runs, but we could certainly have done better had either shown more composure.

 

Cheers Alt, we seem to be masters at not making the most of our opportunities.

[alternative maryhill]

"Can't really blame either Watkins or Mckay for being a little selfish in front of goal when both are presumably desperate to put an end to barren runs, but we could certainly have done better had either shown more composure.

 

Cheers Alt, we seem to be masters at not making the most of our opportunities.

 

True, yeah. Think one of the points I was trying to make through the fog of Guinness was that we haven't created enough opportunities for either in the last few weeks. 

[Charles Bannerman]

 

There was an Aberdeen fan behind me in the Main Stand. When He leapt up and cheered when they scored, I nearly lost the rag. Talk about adding insult to injury.

The Dons sold their entire allocation and contributed over £60,000 to our coffers. Personally, since we were a long way from selling out, I have no difficulty with a few relatively well behaved Aberdeen fans contributing a few more quid

 

I think that must have been the same guy as was sitting just in front of us - older grey haired fellow?. I thought that the vigour of his celebration was potentially provocative within home seating and should have attracted the intervention of stewards. Inevitably, though, away fans will find their way into home areas.

I am told that Aberdeen sold out their full allocation of 3052 tickets. With a total crowd of 6614 this means that there were in addition 3562 home fans. This is also significantly up on the norm for a home support which I would guess is typically around 2800. That crowd was the biggest at any game in the North since the 3-1 Friday night derby in October 2012 and significantly larger than for a number of more recent visits of Celtic (thanks to Caley D for looking up the relevant numbers).

I would have thought that between a capacity Aberdeen support, a larger than normal home one and what seemed to be pretty busy hospitality, this game would have been a pretty profitable affair for ICT.

[Kingsmills]

Profitable in relative terms. Back in the day a £60,000 windfall for either Caley or Thistle would have balanced the books for a couple of financial years. These days, it's slightly less than what's required to run ICT for a week.

[Row S]

I think Hughes has lost the plot. His tactical nativity was shown today by not exploiting the weaknesses of that Aberdeen back four. We showed them too much respect instead of getting in and about them. Watkins should have been leading the line with Ross and McKay harassing their back four. Instead we drew back far too deep especially in the first half when Tansey, Christie and Shinnie were chasing shadows. Both Tremarco and Doran were off the pace and should have been hooked at half time. Why did Deano waste so much time pondering what to do with goal kicks?

Aberdeen are not that good a team. I was so frustrated with our play that I will not stay sober to be fit to drive and make the effort to go to Tinkerville on Thursday to potentially suffer that again.

[CaleyD]

I think Hughes has lost the plot. His tactical nativity was shown today by not exploiting the weaknesses of that Aberdeen back four. We showed them too much respect instead of getting in and about them. Watkins should have been leading the line with Ross and McKay harassing their back four. Instead we drew back far too deep especially in the first half when Tansey, Christie and Shinnie were chasing shadows. Both Tremarco and Doran were off the pace and should have been hooked at half time. Why did Deano waste so much time pondering what to do with goal kicks?

Aberdeen are not that good a team. I was so frustrated with our play that I will not stay sober to be fit to drive and make the effort to go to Tinkerville on Thursday to potentially suffer that again.

 

It is the Christmas period, so I guess it's appropriate, right?!

[+Wanderer]

Very disappointing. We'd be top of the league if we'd beaten PT, SJ (very do-able) and converted a couple of yesterday's numerous chances.

 

Seems obvious that teams are wise to our style now, so those free-flowing victories are not going to come along like buses. But I'm sure there has to be some off-field distraction going on with the window about to open. Had a quick look back at the rumours surrounding Billy this time last year...even JH was apparently challenging clubs to come in for him with decent offers - how would that not be anything other than distracting?

 

 

Ach whatever, just disappointed. Onwards.

[Row S]

I think Hughes has lost the plot. His tactical nativity was shown today by not exploiting the weaknesses of that Aberdeen back four. We showed them too much respect instead of getting in and about them. Watkins should have been leading the line with Ross and McKay harassing their back four. Instead we drew back far too deep especially in the first half when Tansey, Christie and Shinnie were chasing shadows. Both Tremarco and Doran were off the pace and should have been hooked at half time. Why did Deano waste so much time pondering what to do with goal kicks?

Aberdeen are not that good a team. I was so frustrated with our play that I will not stay sober to be fit to drive and make the effort to go to Tinkerville on Thursday to potentially suffer that again.

 

It is the Christmas period, so I guess it's appropriate, right?!

Argh, predictive text again. Except that it was the men from the east that brought gifts not the other way round. Dons fans seem to think they should have had more - a penalty and us down to 10 men. At least Calum Murray didn't think so but why he didn't at least book Badwillie for deliberately pushing Warren in the back was unbelievable. Draper was sent off for less intent in last week's game.

[Huisdean]

A lot of unjustified negativity on here after the game. Aberdeen probably created 2 clear chances and took one. Doubt if Brill had a save of note to make while their goalkeeper ceratinly had at least 4/5 good saves to keep Aberdeen in the game. We were unlucky yesterday, on another day we could have won easily but just don't seem to be getting a break just now.